The last while, we’ve reviewed portable 2.5 inch USB drives from both Maxtor (OneTouch 4 Mini) and Buffalo (MiniStation TurboUSB). Both units were solid performers and seemed to bring their own unique features to the table. This time, we’ve managed to snag one of Western Digital’s new MyPassport Elite 2.5 inch Portable USB Hard Drives. The Elite gives us a unique enclosure with a soft-touch finish and an innovative external capacity gauge. It comes in capacities of 250GB and 320GB and is backed up by a 5 year warranty. Let’s check it out!
Features and Specifications
The MyPassport Elite sports a USB 2.0 interface for a transfer rate of up to 480 Mbps and is backwards compatible with good ole USB 1.1 in a pinch. The unit measures 15mm x 126.15mm x 79.5mm making it one of the slimmest portable drives that I’ve come across to date and weighs in at 0.18kgs. Inside the unit is one of Western Digital’s GreenPower 2.5 inch SATA 5400RPM hard drives with a 2MB buffer in either 250GB or 320GB (as tested) keeping power drain to a minimum. It’ll be interesting to see if this has an impact on performance.
The MyPassport Elite comes in four colours which include Blue/Red/Brown and Silver (as tested) and is coated in a soft-touch finish that prevents it from slipping out of your hand. The unit is compatible with most modern Mac and Windows systems, but comes pre-formatted for Windows.
What’s Inside the Box?
The My Passport Elite comes with a small quick start manual and other small pieces of paper that we never read, a single short USB cord and of course a 320GB version of the drive in Silver. I really did like Western Digital’s packaging job on this retail box. The package is easy to open unlike those stupid blister packs and included all the relevant information the clear plastic box to let the user make an informed decision.
I was also happy to see that Western Digital didn’t just stuff some generic mini-USB cord into the box that would defeat the purpose of keeping the drive small in the first place. Although it isn’t as well integrated as the one used by the Buffalo Mini Turbostation, it is a step in the right direction. Missing from this drive is the secondary USB cable that is sometimes required by anemic USB ports to supply enough juice to the drive. Western Digital does note this in their documentation and offers to ship this double USB cable to anyone who needs it, but most modern systems should have no problem.
First Impressions
The mysterious soft touch finish does have a rather grippy feel to it without adding any bulk. Unfortunately, luxury didn’t seem to last for me. After packing it around in my laptop bags for the last week, the near velvet softness of the enclosure quickly wore away. It just didn’t feel the same anymore. I also noticed that the finish was fairly susceptible to scratching. I was actually wondering why Western Digital was offering 20% off to owners with a coupon strategically placed in the box. I guess it’s too late for me now, but if you do pick up the drive, take them up on the case offer.
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A Gas Gauge For Your Data
Nothing sucks more than to run out of storage space while you’re out on the road. Western Digital has included an innovative storage capacity gauge that tells you, in four leds, from left to right, whether you’re coming up on full or if you still have a ways to go. One means you’ve got a ton of room while four means you’re full. This gauge works whether you’re plugged into a computer or not so if you have a charger for another device with a mini-USB port on it, you can quickly find out if your drive is full or not without having to boot up a computer.
Setting It Up
The device itself is basically plug and play and will show up on your desktop as a new drive in either Mac or your favourite flavour of Windows. Just slide open the protective USB cover and plug in the USB cable and the other end to a computer and you’re good to go. I really liked how Western Digital protected the USB port. I mean, if that thing gets hosed, you are not getting at your data easily. The only thing that actually needs any real setup is the software.
Software
In an effort to differentiate itself from the other portable hard drives out there, they gave the MyPassport Elite a whole whackload of software in addition to its cool physical features.
Unfortunately, the two coolest pieces of software are demoware and expire after 30 days. Since there is no CD with the drive, they do give you an option to backup all this wonderful can’t use it after 30 days software, but I wouldn’t bother with most of it. However, they did manage to include a CD Key hidden in the depths of the Japanese side of the quick start guide that gives you a fully functional version of WD Anywhere Backup which is a very useful and easy to use utility that comes on competing products from other competitors.
I still can’t fathom why they would want to hide it. If I wasn’t pointed in the right direction, I probably would have turfed the quick start guide, and my free copy of WD Anywhere Backup. Unfortunately, this software is only good on the PC however both Mac and PC users do get one freebie: A tray tool that gives you the 411 on your drive like its SMART status and its capacity. Yay.
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Performance
So the drive looks great and there are some cool features. However the software bundle sucks because it’s demoware. So what’s left? How about a benchmark using our old friend HD Tach under Windows Vista…
The drive performs fairly well for a portable 2.5 inch USB 2.0 drive with a maximum transfer of 29.7 MB/s and an average read speed of 27.4 MB/s. Random access times were 17.2ms while CPU utilization was 21%. This puts it on par with the similarly spec’d Samsung drive inside the Buffalo TurboStation Mini 320GB under stock performance, while beating it on both CPU utilization and access times.
Final Thoughts
Western Digital has shown that it can build some very nice looking external drives with the MyPassport Elite. The soft touch finish and the compact size make it easily one of the prettier portable USB 2.0 hard drives on the market. However, the honeymoon was over on the soft touch finish the minute it ventured into my rather cluttered laptop bag. This communing with my other gadgets seems to have taken that velvety feel away from the enclosure and has even left some scratches that are now starting to take away from the luxurious exterior.
I wondered why Western Digital included the 20% off carry case coupon and I guess I found out why. There’s nothing horribly wrong here. Stuff does get scratched. However, when one of the main marketing features of the drive is that soft touch finish, I expect it to last more than a couple weeks. Other than that, the casing seems very well built and should offer plenty of protection for the drive inside. I was also pleased to see that Western Digital took the time to seal up the drive from the elements by eliminating any gaping holes. The slide cover on the USB port was a nice touch and I can definitely see value in having a capacity gauge.
One of the things that I really hate about software bundles that come with hardware is the useless demoware bundle. It’s like a throw pillow. It serves no purpose. I think Western Digital made a big mistake in including so much non-full version software with the MyPassport Elite. It really doesn’t add anything to the value proposition if people have to pay extra money for it. Thankfully, they did include a really good backup utility in WD Anywhere Backup, however, I still can’t figure out why anyone would want to hide the fact that there is real software that comes with it, on the backside of the startup guide, and in the Japanese section no less.
Overall, we have a very smartly designed and attractive portable hard drive unit with a flawed finish so you might want to take that 20% discount afterall on the case. The capacity gauge is useful and the WD Anywhere Backup makes it a complete package for most users but be ready for a bit of a treasure hunt for the super secret bonus CD key in the package. I wonder if they give prizes out for finding it?
Pros
- Slim design makes it very portable and no bulky USB cable to ruin its small foot print
- Sliding cover keeps the USB port safe and clean
- Useful capacity gauge works even without a PC (just give it power).
- Five Year Warranty
Cons
- Soft-touch finish doesn’t last
- Why make the CD key for the only functional piece of software so hard to find?
Overall Rating: 8.5 / 10.0
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